press release
Please join us on January 20th at 3 pm at Studio 10 to listen and look while four exceptional writers read original work while communing with the evocative sculptural busts of Elise Siegel’s exhibition; “Rough Edges”. In this exhibition, a large gathering of Siegel’s idiosyncratic and psychologically expressive portrait busts inhabit the gallery. Although each bust is a distinct individual, they are not portraits of specific persons. Rather, they are embodiments of familiar emotional states — fleeting moments of inner conflict, disquiet, ambivalence and unease.
Sarah Bridgins, Susan Bruce, Sara Lippmann and Rachel Lyon all know rough edges, and are masters at communicating fleeting moments of inner conflict, disquiet, ambivalence and unease through their words.
Sarah Bridgins' work has appeared in Tin House, BuzzFeed, Bustle, Joyland, Luna Luna, Entropy, and Big Lucks among other journals. She is the cofounder of the Ditmas Lit reading series in Brooklyn. You can read more of her work at www.sarahbridgins.com
Susan Bruce has an MFA in Acting from NYU Tisch School of the Arts that is unrelated to her writing but a significant piece of her life. She acted for over 20 years.
Her chapbook, Body of Water, was published by Finishing Line Press. Susan's poems have been published in Washington Square Press, Barrow Street, december, 805, SWWIM, Yes Yes Books, Yes Poetry and No Dear.
Sara Lippmann's collection, Doll Palace (Dock Street Press) was long-listed for the 2015 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. She was the recipient of an artist’s fellowship in fiction from NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) and her work has appeared in Slice Magazine, Vol.1 Brooklyn, Diagram, Midnight Breakfast, and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing at St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn. Find her @saralippmann or saralippmann.com
Rachel Lyon is the author of the debut novel SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BOY (Scribner 2018), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her shorter work has appeared in Joyland, Iowa Review, Electric Literature's Recommended Reading, McSweeney's, and other publications. A cofounder of the reading series Ditmas Lit in her native Brooklyn NY, Rachel has taught creative writing for the Sackett Street Writers Workshop, Catapult, the Fine Arts Work Center, Slice Literary, and elsewhere. Subscribe to Rachel's Writing/Thinking Prompts newsletter at tinyletter.com/rachellyon, and visit her at www.rachellyon.work
Elise Siegel lives and works in New York City. Solo exhibitions: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Nancy Margolis Gallery, NY; Garth Clark Project Space, NY; Third World Ceramics Biennial, Seoul, Korea; Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan Univ., CT, Jane Hartsook Gallery, NY; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; and Halsey Gallery, College of Charleston, SC. Fellowships: Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, and three NYFA Fellowships. Other awards: Virginia A. Groot Foundation grant and an Anonymous Was a Woman Award. Public Collections: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Chazen Museum, Madison, WI; and Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea.
We promise you will be blown away by what you see and what you hear. Hope to see you there!
-Alice and Larry